What types of paper can be recycled and what happens to paper
once its recycled ?
Approximately 99%
of all paper that is received at your home is recyclable in
Warwick's program including, but not limited to, newspaper,
junk mail, magazines, catalogs, paperback books, hard cover
books (remove covers), all loose leaf paper, stationary, etc.
Items that are not recyclable include paper towels, napkins,
tissues, carbon paper, and similar items.
Paper should be placed
at curbside in brown paper grocery bags or bundled & tied
and placed in your green recycling bin (all paper can be mixed
together). When your paper is collected from curbside it is
brought to the Materials Recycling Facility in Johnston where
it is sorted by hand into different paper grades/ types. Once
each grade is sorted, they are compressed into 1 ton bales,
loaded on trailers and set to the paper mill. At the mill, the
paper is placed in vats of 150 degree water which turns the
paper into pulp. From there the pulp dried, roll and recycled
into new items, such as cereal boxes which use 100% recycled
paper.
Some
important paper facts:
Why didn't the garbage or recycling truck take my cardboard?
Cardboard is a mandatory recyclable
and is collected by the recycling truck only. The cardboard,
if too large to fit inside a grocery bag, must be flattened,
bundled and tied in 3x3 sections no thicker than 8-10 inches
and placed next to your green bin. The cardboard must be flattened
in order to fit into the side compartment of the recycling truck.
In addition to curbside collection, cardboard, along with any
other paper may be dropped off at the Municipal Recycling Facility
located behind the Mickey Stevens Sports Complex.
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Are egg cartons recyclable with the new program?
Yes, egg cartons that are made
out of paper, not Styrofoam, are recyclable.
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Can telephone books now be recycled?
Yes, telephone books can be placed
in your green bin for recycling.
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Are milk cartons and juice boxes recyclable?
Yes, milk cartons and juice boxes
are recyclable. Just place
them in your blue bin with your other recyclables. Flatten
to save space.
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Can the mixed paper, junk mail, boxboard and newspaper be mixed
in the same bag.
Yes, all of this material can be
mixed in the same bag.
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Why can't all plastics be recycled?
Right now it isn't possible
to sell all kinds of plastics to a factory to make new products.
Either the markets do not exist or they are so far away that
it is too expensive to ship the plastics to them. Recycling
arrows on a plastic container does not automatically mean that
the container can be recycled.
Different kinds of plastics
can't be mixed together to be recycled.
Plastics must be separated into individual types. Each type
is shown by a number on the bottom: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.
Each number stands for a different resin (a different chemical).
Each resin reacts differently when it is reprocessed into a
new item, because different resins melt at different temperatures.
Factories that make new products out of plastics are set up
to take only specific resin types.
Even resins with the same number
can't always be recycled together. You
might wonder why #2 yogurt and margarine tubs can't be recycled
in the City's recycling program when #2 milk bottles can. It's
because the tubs are "injection molded " and the bottles
are "blow molded." These two different processes create
chemical combinations that react differently when they are melted
down for recycling. So they can't be mixed together.
What about caps and lids? They
need to go in the garbage because they are usually made
from a different resin. Too many caps in a bale of plastic can
make the whole bale worthless.
Crush the plastic bottles &
jugs to make room in your bin. Not
only will you make room in your bin, you will also help save
space in the recycling truck.
The simplest way to remember
which plastics can currently be recycled is to remember the
following phrase; "If the item has a #1 or #2 on the
bottom and the neck is smaller than the base, you can recycle
it!" Please
don't put any of the following plastic items in your recycling
bin: motor oil containers, yogurt and margarine tubs even if
it has a #1 or #2, or microwave trays.
